Science Policy Report

Address all comments to the Science Policy Office at:
sciencepolicy@sciencesocieties.org

01 September 2021

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

Senate Democrats released a sweeping $3.5 trillion budget blueprint that proposes to expand Medicare, combat climate change, and boost federal childcare and education programs as lawmakers prepare to take the next step toward advancing the central elements of President Biden’s economic agenda. While the details are sparse, there are several key research items included in the outline. Funding for agricultural climate research and research infrastructure, a new NSF research and technology directorate, climate research and research infrastructure at the DOE National Labs, and EPA climate research are just some of the items that could make it into the final bill. Read the full article.

For what seems like the first time in years, innovation is having a bipartisan moment. Congress has spent months grappling with growing concerns over international competitiveness, underinvestment in research, and existential challenges like a global pandemic and climate change. But as the focus this fall shifts to spending and appropriations, Congress shouldn’t lose sight of the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act and the House’s National Science Foundation For The Future Act: Both bipartisan legislation that passed the Senate and House respectively that would supercharge the National Science Foundation’s ability to promote innovation, alongside other key investments. Read the full article.

The Senate Appropriations Committee held its first markups for fiscal year 2022, advancing the Agriculture, Energy and Water, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bills. Total research funding at USDA is increased by $292 million over fiscal year 2021 for a total of $3.6 billion. Of note, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) would receive a $10 million increase and unlike the $2 million provided in the House, the Senate version does not providing any funding for AgARDA. The Energy and Water bill provides a modest increase of $464 million for the Office of Science, bringing its total to $7.490 billion. See the full funding details here.

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA joined 27 other scientific societies and universities urging the White House to allow Afghan volunteers and members of global professional societies to be made eligible for a priority refugee visa program. The letter also calls for the U.S. to help Afghan women in STEM fields to leave the country. Read the letter here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said it will ban the use on food crops of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to health problems in children. The decision is a victory for environmental activists who have fought to stop the use of the chemical that is applied to crops ranging from corn and soybeans to Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Read the full article.

Science and Society News

As of August 2021, COVID-19 cases are on the rise again across the United States and the globe. The most prevalent case load is caused by the Delta variant. We’re sure you’re concerned – and we are, too. What does this mean for the ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting in-person November 7-10 in Salt Lake City, Utah? The safety of our attendees is and always will be paramount. Connecting scientific leaders from around the world is also vital in turning strategies into actions and actions into impacts. Learn more here.

Human activity is changing the Earth’s climate in ways “unprecedented” in thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, with some of the changes now inevitable and “irreversible”, climate scientists have warned. Only rapid and drastic reductions in greenhouse gases in this decade can prevent such climate breakdown, with every fraction of a degree of further heating likely to compound the accelerating effects, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading authority on climate science. Read the full article.

You may have heard the term “carbon sequestration.” In its basic terms, it refers to keeping and returning carbon to the soil. Carbon storage in soil has both environmental and economic benefits. By pulling carbon dioxide out of the air, plants reduce the amount of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. If a plant is grown for crop production, the way farmers manage tillage, harvest, and crop residue can have a great impact on the amount of carbon stored in the soil. It may not be possible for all farmers to reduce tillage, or to grow crops that create more organic matter. But they can implement new practices that will change their impact on carbon use and storage. That’s where carbon markets come in. Read the full article.

The annual AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture welcomes distinguished speakers to explore global challenges through the lens of agricultural innovation. This year’s virtual lecture will focus on zoonotic diseases and the role of agricultural research in preventing future pandemics. Consider attending virtually on September 30, 2021, at 2:30pm EDT. Learn more and register.  

Any ordinary person looking at the rainbow-colored map of Canberra, Australia, would see just a map—or maybe, the following day’s weather forecast. But Patrice de Caritat sees something entirely different: a detailed landscape of soils, with different colors revealing areas of earth rich in elements like carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The geochemist has spent more than 2 decades making geochemical atlases to help other researchers track down rare minerals or understand an area’s changing environment. Now, a new group is showing an interest in these maps: law enforcement agencies. Read the full article.

If there’s a plant perfectly suited to outcompete the farmers, researchers and chemical companies that collectively define industrial American agriculture, it’s Palmer amaranth. Superweeds — that is, weeds that have evolved characteristics that make them more difficult to control as a result of repeatedly using the same management tactic — are rapidly overtaking American commodity farms, and Palmer amaranth is their king. Scientists have identified a population of Palmer amaranth that can tolerate being sprayed with six different herbicides (though not all at once), and they continue to discover new resistances. By now, it’s clear that weeds are evolving faster than companies are developing new weed killers. Read the full article.

The concept of soil health has evolved. Now, scientists recognize that dynamic soil response to management is highly dependent on site-specific factors; these factors must be considered when interpreting soil health measurements. A new article in the Soil Science Society of America Journal reports on a new and improved soil health interpretation tool: the Soil Health Assessment Protocol and Evaluation (SHAPE). A flexible and quantitative tool, SHAPE provides a relevant interpretation of key soil health indicators. Read the full article.

A team from the University of Illinois has developed a model that treats photosynthesis as a dynamic process rather than an activity that either is or is not happening. This allowed the group to examine the impacts of the many fluctuations in light that crop leaves experience due to intermittent clouds, overlying leaves, and the sun’s daily passage across the sky. In today's densely planted crops, these fluctuations are the norm. Lower efficiency of photosynthesis due to slow adjustment to light changes and are estimated to cost up to 40 percent  of potential productivity.  If crop leaves could be genetically manipulated to adjust more rapidly, then the gain in productivity and efficiency of water-use would be substantial. Read the full article.

Electric vehicle technology has finally arrived in heavy machinery, thanks to battery breakthroughs, a small crop of startups like Monarch and investors hungry for the next new thing on wheels. The future of transportation is about to hit the Heartland. A crop of electric startups are hitting the $292 billion heavy machinery market just in time for harvest. Read the full article.

Since 1982, the four largest beef-packing companies went from controlling about forty percent of the market to controlling more than eighty per cent. The four largest seed manufacturers increased their market share from twenty-one per cent in 1994 to sixty-six per cent in 2018. As a result, farmers are paying more for inputs—seeds, fertilizers—while selling their goods for lower prices and to fewer competitive buyers. Renewed attention to antitrust has been focused on Big Tech, but should the same attention be given to agriculture concentration? Read the full article.

For many investors, farmland was not on the radar as an investable asset class until earlier this year, when it was revealed that the largest owners of US farmland were none other than Bill and Melinda Gates. Many were speculating about Gates’ motivation for the acquisitions – was it part of his larger sustainability strategy? As it happens, Gates says these investments are, in fact, not connected to climate. This might have surprised some – even the most savvy investors. But to those familiar with farmland, it’s easy to see why this asset class is so attractive for investors. Read the full article.

Over the past two decades, most farmers have been fighting plant pests like ragweed with the herbicide glyphosate (the chief ingredient in Roundup). As the weeds develop resistance to glyphosate, chemical companies have offered up a series of new products combining multiple older, more toxic herbicides such as 2,4-D and dicamba (along with the genetically engineered crops that resist them) in hopes of fending off this inevitable pest evolution. Can a single crop cure Midwestern agriculture’s biodiversity problem all by itself? Probably not, but it provides an opportunity to apply a different, holistic strategy to addressing agriculture’s problems. Read the full article.

The American Geosciences Institute (AG) invites you to celebrate and help spread the word about Earth Science Week, an international celebration of the geosciences that promotes awareness of Earth and space science among students at all levels and members of the public. The Earth Science Week 2021 Toolkit is in stock now, and pre-orders are shipping to recipients. The toolkit contains many educational and media resources to support activities for Earth Science Week 2021 (October 10-16), which celebrates the theme "Water Today and for the Future." Learn more and order your toolkit here.
 

The AAAS Office of Government Relations announces the free virtual 2021 Virtual CASE Workshop open to all STEM undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs. The CASE Workshop is an exciting opportunity to learn from science policy and advocacy experts about the role of science in policymaking and the federal policy-making process. The Workshop empowers participants with ways to become a voice for basic research throughout their careers. Learn more and register here.

During 2020, issues related to the evaluation of teaching, student learning, mentoring, service, and innovative research have become critical – amplified with increased attention and public discussions of systemic racism, widespread economic hardships, extreme environmental events, and, of course, a worldwide pandemic. Based on a set of commissioned papers, the National Academies is hosting a four-part webinar series in September aimed at helping leaders of higher education institutions understand how current faculty reward, advancement, and hiring systems have changed and continue to change in response to the events of 2020. Please register for all four sessions to participate. Learn more and register here.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) seeks qualified individuals to serve on peer review panels for grant applications. NIFA convenes peer review panels comprised of research, education, extension, and other subject matter experts to review competitive grant proposals. Panelist duties include reviewing proposals; drafting and submitting individual scores and written reviews; attending and participating in a panel meeting. NIFA needs your service to ensure our peer review panels have the required expertise, while remaining inclusive, representative, and diverse. If you are interested in participating, NIFA uses a Peer Review System (PRS), to acquire volunteer sign-up. Learn more here.

International Corner

The United Kingdom currently has one of the highest rates of open-access publication in the world, with many researchers posting their research papers on websites that make them publicly available for free. But the country’s leading funding agency today announced a new policy that will push open access even further by mandating that all research it funds must be freely available for anyone to read upon publication. The policy by the funder, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will expand on existing rules covering all research papers produced from its £8 billion in annual funding. About three-quarters of papers recently published from U.K. Read the full article.

The EU Commission has authorised seven GMO crops – three maize, two soybeans, one oilseed rape and one cotton – and renewed the authorisations for two maize and one oilseed rape crops used for food and animal feed. All of these GMO crops have gone through a comprehensive and stringent authorisation procedure, including a favourable scientific assessment by the European Food Safety Authority. Read the full article.

Afghanistan had come a long way since the Taliban last ruled from 1996 to 2001 under a harsh interpretation of Sharia in which it deprived women of civil liberties and summarily executed intellectuals and others opposed to its ideology. After the Taliban’s ouster, Afghanistan’s higher education institutions burgeoned from a handful to more than 100, and women entered the workforce en masse. Now, after the Taliban’s lightning-fast takeover of the country, many Afghan researchers fear for their safety. Read the full article.

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America provides funding for agronomic, environmental, and regulatory research that will benefit golf course superintendents and the golf courses they manage. Chapter letters of support and/or match are to be submitted with the grant application. Deadline, September 13. Read the full announcement. 

Farm of the Future is a competitive grant program that will be implemented by USDA NIFA to establish an agricultural test bed and demonstration site. It seeks to launch this rural test bed for precision agriculture, smart automation, data connectivity and transfer, and to demonstrate best practices in climate-smart agriculture, forestry, and animal production systems that enhance sustainability and farm profitability. The test bed will evaluate digital and smart technologies to provide accessible, data-driven solutions that support resilient agricultural and value-added practices. Deadline, October 15. Read the full announcement.

The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) awards Postdoctoral Fellowships to recent recipients of doctoral degrees to conduct an integrated program of independent research and professional development. Fellowship proposals must address scientific questions within the scope of EAR disciplinary programs and must align with the overall theme for the postdoctoral program. Fellowship proposals that address questions at the intersections of several EAR disciplinary programs, such as interdisciplinary critical zone (CZ) science or topics related to Cooperative Studies of Earth’s Deep Interior (CSEDI), are also appropriate. The program supports researchers for a period of up to two years with fellowships that can be taken to the institution of their choice (including institutions abroad). The program is intended to recognize beginning investigators of significant potential, and provide them with research experience, mentorship, and training that will establish them in leadership positions in the Earth Sciences community. Deadline, November 3. Read the full announcement.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), requests applications for the fiscal year (FY) 2021 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP). AMS will competitively award funds to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops through collaborative, multi-state projects that address the following regional or national level specialty crop issues: food safety; plant pests and disease; research; crop-specific projects addressing common issues; and marketing and promotion. Deadline, November 4. Read the full announcement. 

The multi-agency Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, organismal, and social drivers that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. The central theme of submitted projects must be the quantitative or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics. The intent is discovery of principles of infectious disease (re)emergence and transmission and testing mathematical or computational models that elucidate infectious disease systems. Projects should be broad, interdisciplinary efforts that go beyond the scope of typical studies. They should focus on the determinants and interactions of (re)emergence and transmission among any host species, including but not limited to humans, non-human animals, and/or plants. Deadline, November 4. Read the full announcement.

NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program Phase I proposers are REQUIRED to submit a three-page "Project Pitch" that outlines the project objectives, technological innovation and associated technical risks. A small business must receive an official invitation via the Project Pitch process to submit a full proposal to this solicitation. The Project Pitch gives NSF the ability to review for appropriateness to the NSF SBIR/STTR Phase I program prior to the full proposal submission process, ensuring that proposers do not expend time or resources preparing full proposals that are clearly not aligned with the solicitation requirements. A small business may apply for an NSF Phase II SBIR or STTR award only if it has received an NSF Phase I award, and only for continued research toward commercialization of the technology developed under the Phase I award. Deadline, December 2. Read the full announcements.
SBIR Phase I
STTR Phase II
SBIR Phase II

Sources: Washington Post; The Hill; Reuters; The Guardian; AAAS; Science; New York Times; RIPE Illinois; The New Yorker; Ag Funder News; Civil Eats; AGI; NIFA; ScienceInsider; Euro Weekly News; NSF; USDA

Vision: The Societies Washington, DC Science Policy Office (SPO) will advocate the importance and value of the agronomic, crop and soil sciences in developing national science policy and ensuring the necessary public-sector investment in the continued health of the environment for the well being of humanity. The SPO will assimilate, interpret, and disseminate in a timely manner to Society members information about relevant agricultural, natural resources and environmental legislation, rules and regulations under consideration by Congress and the Administration.

This page of the ASA-CSSA-SSSA web site will highlight current news items relevant to Science Policy. It is not an endorsement of any position.